The demand for high-quality speakers has increased dramatically over the last twenty years. As a consequence, there is a large selection of high-quality speakers available on the market. Unfortunately, speakers are somewhat bulky and cumbersome. There has also been a demand to mount speakers in ceilings and walls. The mounting of high-quality speakers in a ceiling or wall is an expensive enterprise, particularly since mounting brackets must be custom made, and additionally because considerable effort is frequently required in the mounting of such brackets.
Prior art brackets which utilize wing members for attaching the bracket to the wall frame members or studs are known. Such brackets are typically utilized during new construction installations wherein the wall frame members are exposed, thus facilitating attachment of the bracket thereto. The wing members of such brackets are attached to the frame members via fasteners such as nails, screws, staples, etc. One such prior art bracket is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,134 issued on Oct. 18, 1988 to Struthers et al., the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
However, the use of prior art brackets which incorporate such wing members requires that the frame members or studs to which the wing members are attached be notched or mortised to accommodate the thickness of the wing members such that the wallboard applied thereover does not bulge or bow outwardly due to the thickness of the wing members which are disposed intermediate the wall frame members and the wallboard. It has been found that even with wing members as thin as 1/16 inch (0.0625 inch) that sufficient bowing of the wallboard occurs so as to be objectionable.
Additionally, such prior art brackets must be installed prior to application of a wall covering over the wall frame members, and as such are suitable for new construction use only. Such prior art brackets are not practical for use in retrofit installations, since such use would require that a substantial portion of the wallboard be removed from the wall frame members to provide access to the wall frame members such that the wings of the bracket may be attached thereto.
Furthermore, templates for positioning items such as speakers which are to be mounted into a wall are well known. Such templates typically comprise a sheet of paper having indicia formed thereon to indicate the size and position of a cutout to be made in the wallboard as well as any other apertures necessary for mounting hardware, i.e., screws, bolts, etc. Such prior art templates are typically taped to the wall such that the indicia representative of the opening to be formed in the wall is positioned as desired. Next, a hole is cut in the wallboard by tracing the indicia representative of the cutout with a cutting tool.
However, such prior art templates do not aid in the positioning of the speaker or other device within the wall after the opening in the wallboard has been formed.
As such, it would be desirable to provide a bracket for the in-wall mounting of speakers which does not require that the wall frame members be mortised and which does not consequently result in bowing of the wallboard.
Additionally, it would be desirable to provide such a bracket which is suitable for use in prior construction or retrofit applications wherein the bracket could be installed by inserting it through a small opening formed in the wallboard, thus eliminating the requirement that a substantial portion of the wallboard be removed.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide a template which may be attached to frame and wallboard construction walls and ceilings within an opening which has been formed therein so as to facilitate the mounting of speakers and the like. Such a template should be permanently affixed within the wall or ceiling to serve as a guide for the mounting of speakers and the like. The template may also function as a "mud dam", thus providing a seal between the mounted device and the wallboard.